The invention relates to a solar cell consisting of a doped semiconductor base body, a front surface provided for the incident light and metallic connection contacts for the front surface and for the opposite rear side.
More and more fields of use are developing for solar cells for supplying electrical systems with current, independent of the mains voltage. The efficiency data of the solar cells used, their operating voltages and generator currents are, inter alia, important criteria. In order to increase the operating voltage, single solar cells are interconnected in series. To this end, the metallic connection contact on the surface of a solar cell is, for example, electrically connected to the connection contact on the rear side of a further solar cell.
An increase in the generator current is, for example, obtained by several single solar cells being interconnected in parallel or by "strings" connected in series which are themselves connected in parallel. In these interconnections of single solar cells to form solar modules, the electrical connecting elements are of decisive importance.
German Offenlegungsschrift 3 303 926 discloses a solar cell wherein a metallic connector is mechanically attached as a front side contact on a conduction path system so that the connector protrudes beyond the disc edge of the solar cell.
The solar modules interconnected by means of these connectors have attained a high degree of reliability, but also require a certain expenditure with respect to the connectors and the connection technique.
The object underlying the present invention is, therefore, to provide a solar cell structure with connector contacts, which enables further improvement of the manufacture of solar modules.